


As The Moon Falls

by Sammiec3



Series: LinkedUniverseAU Discord Mischief [8]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Genre: Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), Memories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-03
Updated: 2019-05-03
Packaged: 2020-02-16 11:40:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18690763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sammiec3/pseuds/Sammiec3
Summary: The clock tolls, and Sky knows it's the end.





	As The Moon Falls

Sky never quite felt the rush of terror through his veins as he saw the demonic face of the moon closing down on him. Something was wrong. He knew that from the moment he opened his eyes. The village he was in was unknown to him, dark, damning, most of the villagers had fled but the few who remained held nothing but bitter or desperate words for the events damning them all.Something was wrong with the unknown events he found himself in, the disorientation of his body. Now that of a childs- and one unfamiliar to him. Something was wrong with the shape of his ears, the tone of his voice, the cadence he spoke in- when words were forthcoming. Silence often met his tongue. Whoever he was, whatever body he found himself trapped in spoke little to not at all.

And the fairy, _Tatl,_ a panicked voice in his ear trying to aid him to do something but he couldn’t help, he didn’t know where or when he was. He recognized nothing, and nothing prepared him for seeing the monstrous face warping the moon as it descended towards him.

Where was he? _Clock Town._ Where was Clock town? _Termina._

He’s never heard of such a place. Where is Termina? _A world parallel to Hyrule._

Why did he know, but not know what this was?

The clock tolled, 10pm. Two hours until midnight. Anxiety boiled in his chest, something was going to happen at midnight. Something he needed to prevent. But what?

“What am I supposed to do?” He whispered running his hands through his hair and pulling off the cap that had been on it. He brought it in front of him and looked at the limp green cloth, similar to what he had once wore in his own quest to save the world. _The tunic of the hero._ The voice was echoing. Almost taunting in his ear. The bitter thought making him shake his head and return the hat to his head.

“Link we need to hurry,” the voice of Tatl reached him and he looked up to the yellow fairy floating nervously before him.  “There’s no time left.”

He felt his throat closing up, stealing his voice away. He swallowed and nodded nervously, though he still had no idea what he was supposed to be doing. He started walking, searching the streets of Clock Town in hopes of finding an answer.

The clock tolled. 11pm. An hour left. The world was beginning to tremble as he looked into the sky. The moon was closer. Nearly touching the tops of the buildings. Any minute now it was crash against them. He began running, eyes desperately seeking something, anything that could prevent this from happening. Around him he could hear the cries for a savior, the please to the gods for aid. Everyone remaining in the town was outside watching in transfixed horror as their deaths crawled closer with each passing second.

A faint whistle, a flash of light. Someone was lighting fireworks.

The clock tolled.

Midnight.

Sky tripped over a loose stone as the earth’s rumbling grew more violent, he fell onto the road scraping his palms and knees as he tried to catch himself before turning, his body moving on it’s own. Above him, laughing at them. The wicked eyes of the moon glowing in the dark night as the fireworks continued to fire into the air. Echoes of their explosions clashing with the crashing of stone and wood as the moon struck into the clock tower. It’s large body closing in on the town, on the villagers, on him. The heat of the falling stone forced him further into the earth before it was on top of him.His scream was not the only one to reach his ears as he was crushed against the earth below him. Agony echoing in every limb of his body. Then the sweet numbing relief of nothingness embraced him.

A haunting laugh rattled in his ears.

“You’ve met with a terrible fate… haven’t you?”

The voice snapped his eyes open. He was standing again in the middle of clock town, the tolling of the bell telling him that it was 9pm. Three hours until the moon fell. Three hours to stop this fate from befalling him and everyone here. He looked down at his trembling hands, a shaky breath escaping him.

Small calloused fingers, tiny scar lines from cuts or burns. Who was he… what had he gone through? He couldn’t be older then twelve. He felt like he was younger then that even… 9? 10?

He knew several of the others had started their journeys young. But this young, and fighting the moon…?

_“Hey old man, what’s the biggest thing you’ve ever fought?” Warriors cocky voice reached across their small camp._

_“The Moon.” Time’s voice responded in a bored tone. There was a snicker from a few of the others._

_“The moon?” Legend laughed._

_“Aww c’mon, really?!” Hyrule asked grinning. Time looked away from his inspection of a sword._

_“Yes, really.”_

The moon. _The moon._ He had thought it had been a joke, just something to privately laugh at in their down time.

_The moon._

It was no joke. No lie. Time had been just a boy when he had to prevent this from happening. His gaze lifted skyward to the haunting face glaring down at the town, at him.

How?

“Link, we need to hurry.” Tatl’s voice. He couldn’t waste time thinking about the older man. He needed to figure a way out of this… this memory. That must be what this is. He started moving through the town, searching for some sort of clue.

The clock tolled. Two hours left.

The villagers had no helpful insight. He couldn’t blame them, they had other things on their mind. His task- though it would aid them… _he hoped._ Wasn’t anything they could actively help with.

The clock tolled. An hour left.

The earth was beginning to tremble again. There had to be something, anything. Tatl’s quivering voice echoed in his ears, she didn’t have faith in him. He didn’t blame her, he didn’t have faith in himself. How were you supposed to stop the moon from crushing the world? It was impractical.

The clock tolled. The moon was crashing against the clock tower, the earth trembling violently. He lost his footing. Felt the heat of the moon as it closed in on him. Crushing agony, every bone in his body breaking under the pressure.

Blissful, numbing, nothing.

The rattling laugh echoed in his ears again, chattering, taunting him.

“You’ve met with a terrible fate… haven’t you?”

Blue eyes opened as the clock tower tolled above him. Three hours remaining.

Maybe the answer laid outside the town. His feet led him onto Termina Field without him needing to know where to travel. The gate guard had fled his post.

The calm of the field felt more constricting then the closed in alleyways of the town. He ran, trusting his body to know somewhere to go, somewhere that hopefully held answers. The vast empty fields oddly void of monsters brought a feeling of dread upon him.

The clock tolled. Two hours remaining.

“Link, we need to hurry.”

Wooden fence posts cutting through the fields told him that he was approaching a ranch. Without hesitation he vulted the fence and continued towards the barn in the distance. A young redheaded girl- his heart jolted for a moment. Malon? _Cremia._ Time’s memories supplied for him. They looked so similar.

Cremia was coaxing her sister _Romani_ inside, a bottle of whiskey in hand. She didn’t want to go inside.

The clock tolled. One hour remaining.

This was the wrong place for him to be. Seeing the sisters wrapped in each other’s arms. Hearing the whinnies of his horse _Epona_ enclosed in a small stable.  He couldn’t be here when the moon feel again.

He couldn’t move, he felt paralyzed.

In the distance fireworks began to shoot into the sky, sparkles of light, an echoing boom, the tremble of the earth.

The clock tolled.

Their screams would haunt him until his dying days. Epona’s whinnie of protest would forever be in his mind. The heat, the agony, the black numbing nothingness.

A rattling laugh.

“You’ve met with a terrible fate… haven’t you?”

Again…

Again-

Again.

Ever repeating.

How did Time do this?

A haunting laugh.

A demonic face etched into the moon.

“You’ve met with a terrible fate… haven’t you?”

“Link, we need to hurry!”

What was he meant to do?

Again and again.

Over and over.

The clock tolled. Three hours remaining.

He dropped to his knees hands gripping his hair and let out a scream.

He couldn’t do this. He needed to break free of this endless cycle. What demon did he need to defeat to free himself of this hell?

The clock tolled.

Tears streamed down his cheeks. He couldn’t do this. He was alone, trapped. Forced to live these hours over again and again. How many times had the moon crushed him?

He’d never get that laugh out of his ears. He’d never unhear the cries of those girls or any of the townsfolk.

How did Time do this?

How did he make it stop?

He just wanted it to end.

The clock tolled.

The clock tolled…

“You’ve met with a terrible fate… haven’t you?”

He sat on a stump just outside the town, his back to the haunting image of the moon in the sky, his fingers absently playing with the pouches on his belt as he stared blankly out at the fields surrounding the town.

“Link?” Tatl’s voice asked hesitantly.

“What’s the point?” He responded in a dead voice, he momentarily focused on her as she floated down into his line of sight before returning to staring out at nothing. “The moon will fall… we’ll all die.” She was directly in his face again the moment he said that.

“Don’t you dare say that! We’ve worked too hard for you to just give up!”

“There’s no time left.”

“That’s never stopped you before. Just play your occurina and send us back in time!”

Time. That was his title wasn’t it? The Hero of Time. The one none knew his real age too?

The bag fell free from his belt and fell to the ground with a thump, he reached for it  and picked the weighted cloth up, hesitating he pulled the contents free. The occurina dropped into his hand and he stared at the blue item. He did remember Time occasionally pulling one out and playing for them in their down hours, but it was rare.

He didn’t know how to play an ocarina. He’s played the harp. He didn’t know which notes belonged to what finger position on the small instrument in his hands. And he was almost certain he didn’t know the song that would… turn back time?

The clock tolled.

It couldn’t be that hard… some of it had to be muscle memory right? This body… Time’s younger self… knew the song, knew the notes. That should help. Right?

The clock tolled. The world ended.

He could do this. He had time.

The clock tolled.

“Link stop messing around.”

The clock tolled.

That sounded like an actual song.

The clock tolled.

“You’ve met with a terrible fate… haven’t you?”

Three hours…

Two hours…

One hour…

50 minutes…

40 minutes…

30...

20…

10…

5…

The world trembled as much as his hands as he held the small instrument to his mouth trying. Trying to make the proper notes. Trying to find the right song through the hazy memories of Times or of his own memories, those few songs he had heard Time playing.

The bell tolled…

His eyes opened to a canopy of green, sun filtering through the leaves above him. Slowly he sat up disoriented by the change of scenery. A hand touched his shoulder getting him to jump and he turned to see Twilight kneeling next to him, a worried expression on his face.


End file.
